UChicago Arts + Public Life’s L1 Retail Store in Washington Park is now open for business with its inaugural fellows and tenants: ReformedSchool, Hemp Heals Body Shop, Solo Noir for Men and Zen Soul Apothecary.
After more than a year since Arts + Public Life (APL), an initiative of UChicago Arts, announced its L1 Creative Business Accelerator program, L1 celebrated its grand opening of its retail store at the “Back on the Block” community event on Oct. 9, which also honored the 10-year anniversary of APL.
Located at 319 E. Garfield Blvd., inside the city’s first “L” station (built in 1892) and underneath the Chicago Transit Authority’s Green Line elevated tracks, L1 provides both a 20-month fellowship and 700 square feet of subsidized shared brick-and-mortar retail space for three South Side entrepreneurs dedicated to scaling their creative businesses over the next two years.
The three tenants—Peter Gaona of ReformedSchool, Tiffany Joi of Hemp Heals Body Shop, and Andrea Polk of Solo Noir for Men and Zen Soul Apothecary—were selected from a pool of 55 applicants through an open call and jury review process.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart